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Hey everyone,
I am a long time lurker on SDN and recently started my intern year (couple weeks in) in EM. Unfortunately, I feel like I have made a mistake in pursuing this specialty. In fact, I was contemplating taking a year off in order to explore more options as I was unsure from the beginning but decided to stick with it.
So why did I choose EM instead (a field that is vastly different than neuro as you all know)...
I am not sure if I have changed over the course of my fourth year or if I was disillusioned with this specialty from the beginning. However, I enjoyed the exciting atmosphere and the idea of being able to treat a wide variety of problems. At least thats what I convinced myself of. I actually think I was more excited about the idea of working very little, flexibility in the schedule, and not having to endure call. Given that the residency is only three years and that EM physicians seem to have separate gigs outside of medicine (in case I want to leave clinical medicine for good), I decided to go for it.
Why Neurology?
I always had an interest in neurology due to the fascinating subject of learning the anatomy/physiology/pathology and the amount of information about the neurological system that has still yet to be discovered. I also enjoy the idea of being an expert in a certain field and being a consultant rather than the one doing the consulting. I want to spend more time with patients and not feel rushed/have to see a million patients per day. I am easy going/laid back and have recently found I enjoy a relaxed environment and want a specialty that has many options of how I practice (not sure if I enjoy the hospital setting and one day might want to do only outpatient medicine). I love how there are a variety of fellowships to pursue and also might want to get into some basic science research at one point (did basic science research for a neuro MD/PHD during college). Lastly, I have a significant history of migraines in my family and dealt with chronic migraines during a period of time in med school to where I had close contact with a private neurologist (the fascination of my disorder along with the interaction with my neurologist also spurred my interest).
Fast forward to my current situation...
I am pretty miserable. Yes, I am starting a residency after the glorious relaxing fourth year. And yes, I am in a new environment, far from family and friends. I assume some of you will attribute my unhappiness to these external factors rather than my residency choice. I want to add that I am a fairly fickle person in general, and the selection of my specialty choice has been one of the toughest and unpleasant experiences I had to forgo since the beginning of third year medical school.
Bottom line is that I am learning more about myself over the past year (while I had time to relax and ponder) and during these short few weeks in intern year. I am finding that I do not want to work in a chaotic or stressful environment. I do not want to have to coordinate care with multiple specialists (most of whom are unappreciative of us ER docs). I do not thrive in having to do a million tasks at once. I enjoy spending more time with patients (I seem to spend way too much time with each patient than the average ER doc) and do want some type of continuity. I also do not want to deal with circadian disturbances down the road when I am older. I would have thought you were crazy if you had told me what I had just typed one year ago. Either I have changed or realized what I had truly wanted out of my career all along.
How do I handle this situation. Your turn to give advice!
So my dilemma...how do I go about handling this situation? I know many of you will warn me that I will find many parts with the field of neurology that can possibly make me dissatisfied. I do not want to make a second mistake in my specialty choice. I will be talking with many different neurologists (community and academic) and will do some shadowing/working with some on my time off (luckily EM residency does give you a fairly good amount of time off).
I welcome all advice in regards to whether or not I should switch into neurology. Please, PM me with anything you can offer (attendings and residents only please). But what I am confused on, is if in the next couple months I come to the decision that a switch is absolutely necessary...I have no idea how to go about it the right way.
My current thoughts on how to switch...
I have some time off coming up in a couple months where I will be traveling back home (happens to be where I went to med school). Plan is to talk with PD of neurology and get his advice. (Do not want to go to neuro PD of current institution as I want to have a good idea of my options first and would want to inform my EM PD first so it does not look like I am going behind his back). I not sure whether it will be too late (early-mid October) to apply into neurology through ERAS at this point. If that is not an option, maybe I can just apply for prelim spots for next year in hopes of matching into a PGY2 neurology program the next year. Luckily, I think I am fairly competitive overall. Come from top 20 allopathic school, step scores 230s/250s, second quartile overall, first quartile for clinical year. Only part that is lacking in application is a strong interest in neuro which maybe I can do research/shadowing before prelim year.
I am pretty miserable right now and if I continue to experience such misery, I will want to get out of my current situation as soon as possible. Please advise...
I am a long time lurker on SDN and recently started my intern year (couple weeks in) in EM. Unfortunately, I feel like I have made a mistake in pursuing this specialty. In fact, I was contemplating taking a year off in order to explore more options as I was unsure from the beginning but decided to stick with it.
So why did I choose EM instead (a field that is vastly different than neuro as you all know)...
I am not sure if I have changed over the course of my fourth year or if I was disillusioned with this specialty from the beginning. However, I enjoyed the exciting atmosphere and the idea of being able to treat a wide variety of problems. At least thats what I convinced myself of. I actually think I was more excited about the idea of working very little, flexibility in the schedule, and not having to endure call. Given that the residency is only three years and that EM physicians seem to have separate gigs outside of medicine (in case I want to leave clinical medicine for good), I decided to go for it.
Why Neurology?
I always had an interest in neurology due to the fascinating subject of learning the anatomy/physiology/pathology and the amount of information about the neurological system that has still yet to be discovered. I also enjoy the idea of being an expert in a certain field and being a consultant rather than the one doing the consulting. I want to spend more time with patients and not feel rushed/have to see a million patients per day. I am easy going/laid back and have recently found I enjoy a relaxed environment and want a specialty that has many options of how I practice (not sure if I enjoy the hospital setting and one day might want to do only outpatient medicine). I love how there are a variety of fellowships to pursue and also might want to get into some basic science research at one point (did basic science research for a neuro MD/PHD during college). Lastly, I have a significant history of migraines in my family and dealt with chronic migraines during a period of time in med school to where I had close contact with a private neurologist (the fascination of my disorder along with the interaction with my neurologist also spurred my interest).
Fast forward to my current situation...
I am pretty miserable. Yes, I am starting a residency after the glorious relaxing fourth year. And yes, I am in a new environment, far from family and friends. I assume some of you will attribute my unhappiness to these external factors rather than my residency choice. I want to add that I am a fairly fickle person in general, and the selection of my specialty choice has been one of the toughest and unpleasant experiences I had to forgo since the beginning of third year medical school.
Bottom line is that I am learning more about myself over the past year (while I had time to relax and ponder) and during these short few weeks in intern year. I am finding that I do not want to work in a chaotic or stressful environment. I do not want to have to coordinate care with multiple specialists (most of whom are unappreciative of us ER docs). I do not thrive in having to do a million tasks at once. I enjoy spending more time with patients (I seem to spend way too much time with each patient than the average ER doc) and do want some type of continuity. I also do not want to deal with circadian disturbances down the road when I am older. I would have thought you were crazy if you had told me what I had just typed one year ago. Either I have changed or realized what I had truly wanted out of my career all along.
How do I handle this situation. Your turn to give advice!
So my dilemma...how do I go about handling this situation? I know many of you will warn me that I will find many parts with the field of neurology that can possibly make me dissatisfied. I do not want to make a second mistake in my specialty choice. I will be talking with many different neurologists (community and academic) and will do some shadowing/working with some on my time off (luckily EM residency does give you a fairly good amount of time off).
I welcome all advice in regards to whether or not I should switch into neurology. Please, PM me with anything you can offer (attendings and residents only please). But what I am confused on, is if in the next couple months I come to the decision that a switch is absolutely necessary...I have no idea how to go about it the right way.
My current thoughts on how to switch...
I have some time off coming up in a couple months where I will be traveling back home (happens to be where I went to med school). Plan is to talk with PD of neurology and get his advice. (Do not want to go to neuro PD of current institution as I want to have a good idea of my options first and would want to inform my EM PD first so it does not look like I am going behind his back). I not sure whether it will be too late (early-mid October) to apply into neurology through ERAS at this point. If that is not an option, maybe I can just apply for prelim spots for next year in hopes of matching into a PGY2 neurology program the next year. Luckily, I think I am fairly competitive overall. Come from top 20 allopathic school, step scores 230s/250s, second quartile overall, first quartile for clinical year. Only part that is lacking in application is a strong interest in neuro which maybe I can do research/shadowing before prelim year.
I am pretty miserable right now and if I continue to experience such misery, I will want to get out of my current situation as soon as possible. Please advise...
